


Pride

by respoftw



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alterante Universe - No Atlantis, First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 07:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14828285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: Rodney felt ridiculous.  The black tee with the rolled up sleeves that had made his arms look almost good in the mirror of his apartment now felt dull and dreary and who the hell was he kidding thinking his arms looked good in it.Hastily, he unrolled the fabric, smoothing it flat over his upper arms and hoped desperately that nobody had seen.  Not that anyone would be looking at him when there was so much eye candy about, all of it glistening with body oil and coloured like the rainbow.What in the hell had convinced him that coming to the annual PRIDE parade was a good idea?





	Pride

**Author's Note:**

> Happy PRIDE month!

Rodney felt ridiculous.  The black tee with the rolled up sleeves that had made his arms look almost good in the mirror of his apartment now felt dull and dreary and who the hell was he kidding thinking his arms looked good in it.

Hastily, he unrolled the fabric, smoothing it flat over his upper arms and hoped desperately that nobody had seen.  Not that anyone would be looking at him when there was so much eye candy about, all of it glistening with body oil and coloured like the rainbow.  

What in the hell had convinced him that coming to the annual PRIDE parade was a good idea?

“Rodney!  Rodney! Over here!”

Rodney heaved a sigh of regret as he heard Cadman’s dulcet tones screech at him from across the street.  That was what - or who -  had convinced him. And by 'convinced' he meant wore him down relentlessly with her peppy attitude and threats of violence if he didn’t come.

Waiting for a break on the parade of hard-bodied twinks that seemingly stretched the entire length of the block, Rodney jogged across the street and joined Cadman and her friends, all of whom were decked in glitter and wearing enough colour that Rodney felt like squinting against the onslaught.

He recognised Major Anne Teldy and Dr Allison Porter from the mountain and offered the two women a brief smile that probably looked more like a grimace than anything else if the sympathy he saw on their faces was anything to go with.

Cadman grabbed at him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing a kiss of her lime green lips to his cheek.  “Would it have killed you to wear some colour?” she complained, wiping the lime green lipstick stain from his cheek with her thumb.  “Not that you don’t look smoking hot. Who knew you had shoulders that broad under your lab coat McKay?” She winked at that, a smirk on her face.

After an unfortunate body sharing incident thanks to an improperly catalogued alien device six months ago, Cadman knew exactly how broad Rodney’s shoulder were.  She knew a hell of a lot more than that which was part of the reason that she had taken it upon herself to bring Rodney into the small fold of openly LGBTQIAP+ personnel that served under the mountain.  

Sometimes Rodney wished he’d stayed in Siberia.

Sergeant Dusty Mehra chose that moment to arrive, distracting Cadman enough that Rodney was able to extricate himself from her.  Pulling his phone out of his too-tight jeans - yet another thing that had looked decent in his apartment but felt clinging and unflattering in the sea of eye candy - he checked the time and groaned.  He had promised Cadman that he would stay at least an hour and barely a minute had passed.

Mehra was dressed all in black, a tight blank tank top and a black leather jacket over a pair of black jeans.  When Cadman started to voice the same complaints that she’d made to Rodney, Mehra simply pulled her jacket aside to show the small enamel rainbow pin attached to her chest.  That and the dixie cup of some fruity concoction that she waved under Cadman’s nose seemed to quell Cadman’s disappointment. 

With Cadman momentarily distracted by alcohol and Teldy and Porter distracted by each other's tongues, Mehra moved to stand beside Rodney.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, Doc,” she said.

“Yes, well,” Rodney folded his arms across his chest and then remembered that he felt self-conscious enough of his lack of muscles and unfolded them.  “I find it pays not to disappoint blondes who can plant a bomb in my car,” he finished weakly.

Mehra huffed a laugh at that.  Smirking, she dug into her pocket and pulled out a second enamel pin, this one in the shape of three stacked banners with the pride flag colours and the legend 'Love is Love' branded on the banners.  Standing close, she pushed the sharp part through the fabric of his shirt, buttoning it on with a pat on his chest when she was finished.

“There you go,” she said.  “No danger of car bombs now.  Drink?” She waggled a flask that Rodney hadn’t noticed until then at him. 

“God, yes.”  He grabbed at it like a man dying of thirst. He would need as much alcohol as possible to get through the next hour.

More people started to arrive and Rodney only recognised about a quarter of them.  He had no idea there were so many queer soldiers and scientists at the SGC but it made sense in a perverse sort of way.  After all, who was more suited to top-secret government work than those members of the military that had gotten really skilled at keeping secrets.  

It was surprisingly affecting to realise that prior to the DADT repeal last September more than half the group here wouldn’t have been able to openly attend the PRIDE parade.  The alcohol that Mehra seemed to have a never-ending supply of must have been affecting more than he realised. He had stuck close to Mehra as the crowd grew. Of all the people there she seemed the least terrifying which was kind of ironic when he considered that he’d always been just a bit scared of her at work; something about the gung-ho marine attitude.  At the moment though, the glitter-covered revellers seemed a million times more intimidating so Mehra it was. She didn’t seem to mind his hanging close and Rodney found over the course of the next half hour that she had a dry, slightly mean sense of humour that gelled excellently with his own. 

He found himself lamenting out loud that she played exclusively for the ‘L’ team which caused Mehra to laugh, pat his cheek and pass him more alcohol.

Rodney had just taken a mouthful when another group of soldiers showed up.  Rodney recognised Major Evan Lorne first; he was hard to miss in his gold lame hot pants and intricately painted body art, but it was the sight of the SGCs newest recruit that caused him to spray the alcohol he’d just swigged all over the sidewalk.

Colonel John Sheppard had been serving out the remainder of his twenty years in Antarctica when Jack O’Neill came across him acting as a glorified taxi driver, recognised a kindred spirit and brought him back to Colorado Springs with a shiny new rank.

Rodney had heard he was putting a gate team together and had been trying to wangle an introduction before the gossip mill under the mountain biased the new Colonel against him as a potential team member.  It had been three days and he hadn’t managed to talk to him yet so he was probably screwed. The gossip mill was pretty efficient.

Sheppard had noticed his little water fountain impression - who hadn’t? - and his lips were turned up in the beginning of a smirk.  He almost looked like he was about to head over to talk to Rodney - something that caused Rodney to grab on to the sleeve of Mehra’s leather jacket in panic - when Cadman blocked his way, berating Sheppard over his choice of an all black outfit just like she had with Rodney and Mehra.

Sheppard just shrugged and grabbed at the hem of his black shirt, pulling it up and over his head until he was standing bare-chested in the middle of downtown Colorado Springs.  

Rodney thought he was going to pass out, especially when Sheppard continued to make his way towards him once Cadman had flounced off, satisfied that he was now in the proper PRIDE spirit.

“That’s my cue to leave,” Mehra grinned, taking her flask from Rodney’s hand and wiping the opening with her sleeve.  

“What?” He pulled his gaze away from Sheppard’s approach and watched her prepare to abandon him.  “No,” he hissed, “you can’t. Stay. Please. I’ll build you a space gun, the coolest space gun you’ve ever seen.”

“You can build space guns?  Cool.  Can I get one?”

Panicked, Rodney whirled around at the sound of a slow, drawling voice and found John Sheppard standing in front of him, his bare chest already glistening with sweat from the heat of the midday sun.  Swallowing, he looked for Mehra only to find her gone. Sneaky, underhanded marines, he thought. Just see if he’d build her a space gun now.

“Dr McKay, right?” Sheppard continued.  “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Rodney’s lips thinned at that.  The gossip mill strikes again.

“Gotta say, I didn’t expect to see you here.  Thought you had a thing for Carter.”

Oh, so they were still telling that story were they?  Well, there went any chance of making it on to the new gate team.

“ _Had_ ,” Rodney replied witheringly.  “And do I need to remind you what the ‘B’ in LGBTQIAP+ stands for?”

“B, huh?”  Sheppard smiled.  “I’m all about the ‘G’ myself.  And, uh, just so you know, I don’t put any weight against what I hear from other people.  So, wanna knock the attitude on the head and introduce yourself like a normal person?”

Rodney could feel his mouth dropping open and he closed it abruptly.  Forgetting his self-consciousness he crossed his arms and raised his chin, his eyes narrowing as he tried to take the measure of Sheppard.  He wasn’t what Rodney had expected from what he'd read.  And he had read every inch of Sheppard's file, the full one that required hacking directly into the USAF secured network.

Sheppard just waited, the small smirk on his face still there.  His eyes darted briefly to take in Rodney’s stance, lingering ever so subtly over Rodney’s shoulders and - wait, hold up, really?

Rodney’s mouth dropped open again.

“You think I’m hot,” he accused, pointing his finger at Sheppard.  “Oh, this is just perfect. Do you have any idea how much that craps all over my plans?”

Sheppard flushed, the tips of his strangely pointed ears turning red.  He took a step back, holding out his hands in apology. “Hey, I didn’t - look, if you’re not interested then - - “

“Of course I’m interested,” Rodney snapped.  “Have you ever looked in a mirror? I’d be crazy not to be interested.  And you have a masters in applied mathematics from Stanford, which, ok, it’s not the best school out there for maths but it shows you must have some brains, more than most and - - “

Sheppard looked less panicked now, his eyes bright with something that looked almost like fondness which was ridiculous.  No one was fond of Rodney. Except maybe Cadman and that was only because she’d literally walked a mile in his shoes.

“You sure know a lot about me for someone who thinks me finding them attractive craps all over their plans.”

“It does,” Rodney cried, waving his arms at the unfairness of it all.  “I was going to join your gate team and finally get to go off-world regularly and  - - ugh, do you have any idea how unfair the fraternisation rules are?”

Sheppard opened his mouth to reply and Rodney knew in that moment that the idiot was going to ask him to join his gate team, that he was going to pretend the attraction wasn’t there and bury it.  It’s not like he hadn’t had experience of hiding a part of himself for more than a decade, right? Rodney had read his file, knew he would do it and, more than that, he knew he couldn’t let him do it.

“Well, I mean, I suppose I’m really too important to risk in the field anyway,” he sighed.  “I mean, sure it would be nice but all that walking and running and the khaki? No. I, uh, I think it would be for the best if we forget the whole gate team thing and do the other thing.”

Sheppard - John - grinned.  “The _other_ thing?”

“Yes, yes, the other thing.  With the dating and whatnot.”

“Oh, _that_ thing.”

“Yes.   _That_ thing.  Wait,” Rodney froze, suddenly unsure.  “You do want to do that thing, don’t you?  Because I sometimes get ahead of myself and after the whole Carter thing they made me take this seminar on sexual harassment and - - “

John grabbed his waving arms and pulled them down to his sides, not letting go once they were stilled.  “Hey, Rodney,” he said, “want to go out on a date?”

Before he could answer Cadman yelled across the crowd at him.  “Hey, McKay! It’s been an hour. You can leave now if you want.”

He looked at John and grinned.

“What do you say?  Feel like leaving?”

John nodded, already leading the way back through the crowd.  Mehra gave him a thumbs up as he passed her and Cadman waved merrily at him.  

Hell, he was feeling good.  He’d build them both space guns.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have this really solid headcanon now about how Mehra and Rodney would really connect with each other. I had no such headcanon an hour and a half ago when I sat down to write this. Go figure.


End file.
